The following was copied from "New England Historical and Genealogical Register," Vol. LXX, 1916, page 256:
"Much confusion has arisen and numerous errors have appeared in various printed works regarding two settlers in Plymouth Colony, named Thomas Hatch. Besides Thomas Hatch of Scituate, there was a Thomas Hatch, an early proprietor of Dorchester, Massachusetts, who was propounded as a freeman, May 14, 1634. (Massachusetts Bay Records Vol. 1, p. 369.) He moved to Yarmouth, where he was propounded as a freeman Jan. 7, 1638 or 1639. Later he moved to Barnstable, where he was propounded as a freeman June 1, 1641. At Barnstable in Aug., 1643, he was on the list of those able to bear rms, that is he was between 16 and 60 years of age. He had land in both Yarmouth and Barnstable, and took the oath of fidelity in Yarmouth in 1657. He died about 1660, and on May 7, 1661, his widow, Grace, presented his inventory. On March 3, 1662-3 administration on his estate was granted to Jonathan Hatch and Lydia, wife of Henry Taylor, who were, without doubt, his children. (Plymouth Colony Records, Court Orders, Vol. 4, p. 31). This Thomas Hatch of Dorchester, Yarmouth, and Barnstable did not belong to the Hatch family of Scituate which came from Kent County, England."
-----------
It was probably early in the year of 1634 that Thomas Hatch removed with his family to the wilderness of the New World, during the great Puritan emigration from England to the Massachusetts Bay Colony. May 14, 1634 he was by vote of the court of General Assembly made a freeman of Massachusetts Bay Colony. The court at that time was very strict as to whom they admitted the right to vote and have a voice in the management of the public affairs of the Colony. To become a freeman of the colony one must be 25 years of age, a man having a family, a freeholder (or land owner) and be a member of the Puritan or Congregational church. They admitted no vagabonds or irresponsible persons into public affairs at that time. January 7, 1639, Thomas Hatch and nine others whose names are given applied to Plymouth Colony for grant of leave to purchase land and form a new township at a place now known as Yarmouth on the Cape Cod peninsula. The leave was granted and Thomas Hatch and the other grantees at once went there and built themselves log houses. The town was incorporated January 17, 1639 and named Yarmouth. A committee was soon appointed to have charge of the division or allotment of lands and the sale of the same. These first settlers were people of strict moral and religious character, they had no intention of admitting into their new settlement any persons who might be a disturbing element in it. In March 1640 the committee for the sale of Iands was instructed to have a strict care to admit no settlers into the town except such as bring certificates from well known men as to their "religious and honest carriage" in the places from whence they came. By the close of 1640 about 25 families had settled the new town. Thomas Hatch resided in the town of Barnstable for the balance of his life and was probably a member of the church of the celebrated Rev. John Lathrop. In l643 his name appears on the roll of those "able to bear arms in Barnstable." He was at this time about 40 years of age. In Jan. 1644 his name is on the list of approved inhabitants of Barnstable" showing that he was a man of good character and influence and held in esteem by his fellow townsmen. It seems evident that he must have acquired some landed estate in this town, for we know he acquired land at other places where he resided in Massachusetts Bay and Plymouth Colony. The records of deed and transfers of land in Barnstable previous to 1700 were destroyed by fire so there is now no official record of the lands owned by any of the early settlers but everything points to the conclusion that he must have been a land holder in the town. He died in Barnstable in 1661 probably in April or May. May 27, 1661 an inventory of his personal estate was taken by Isaac Robinson and Thomas Ewer and sworn to by his widow Grace. It amounted 17 pounds 18 shillings. Authorities are agreed that he was of exemplary character and a very pious man. What became of his widow, Grace, seems not be known."
Her family name seems not now to be known but she is said to have been of Welsh extraction, and in this connection there is a pretty little romance which has been preserved among his descendants to this day. "Miss Grace, it seems, was a very winsome and popular young woman and Thomas had more than one rival for her heart, and hand. But the contest finally simmered down to Thomas and one other, and Miss Grace found it difficult to decide which she liked the better. Finally, as they were farmers, it was agreed by all concerned that fate should be determined by a reaping match, he who could reap a certain equal measured portion of a field of grain, to get the prize. And Miss Grace, being herself a farmer's daughter and a skillful reaper determined that she also would have a hand in the contest that was to decide her fate. Consequently she, with true feminine diplomacy, had her equal portion staked out between the other two and the contest began. Reaping grain at that time was done by the hand sickle. In the meantime as her fate was so near a determination, Miss Grace did some vigorous thinking as is apt to be the case when events of serious consequences are imminent and having concluded that, on the whole, she rather liked Thomas a little the better, she slyly cut over a little onto Thomas' portion, thus enabling him to finish slightly ahead."
This link will take you to Ancestry.com